When King announced the addition of esports in March of 2018, Ridley was chosen to lead the program. He comes to King University with an understanding of the esports industry and with a quality soccer coaching background, as well as experience as a collegiate player.

Ridley has been gaming for over 18 years, with experience in games such as League of Legends, Overwatch, Starcraft II, Dota2, and Hearthstone. He has held rankings at various levels in each game.

His playing career consisted of premier level youth teams, high school and collegiately at Milligan College. Ridley’s coaching experience includes assistant coach at David Crockett High School for both the boy’s and girl’s teams. Collegiately he was an assistant coach at Milligan College for three years, assisting with recruiting, goalkeepers, and scouting. He held assistant, head coaching and director roles with youth clubs such as Bradford United, Fusion FC, and FC Dallas TRI. He also holds various licenses from United Soccer Coaches and the United States Soccer Federation.

Ridley graduated from Milligan College in 2011 with a degree in Digital Media and a minor in Coaching and is currently working at King University as the Multimedia Manager. He and his wife Jessica reside in Jonesborough, Tenn., and they have a golden retriever named Lady.